Lower cash operating costs and surging gold prices boosted operating margins to $1,198 per ounce in the quarter, from $515 per ounce in the year-ago period, the company said.

Gold prices averaged more than $1,700 an ounce in the third quarter, up roughly 35 percent from a year earlier. It hit an all-time high of $1,920.30 an ounce in September.

Shares of the Vancouver, British Columbia-based company were trading down at C$5.87 on Thursday on the Toronto Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Sriraj Kalluvila)